Our Take
The Tarot Trials is the book you pick up while the World Dungeon is on hiatus, and for once, a recommendation like that does not feel like a consolation prize. Katee Robert, the architect of the Dark Olympus series, has pivoted from modern Greek mythology to a high-stakes fantasy competition, and the result is a story that scratches the same itch as the crawl without smelling like a knockoff. For our readers, the practical question has always been what to read when the next floor is unannounced and *Winds of Winter* remains a myth. This is the answer. Twenty-two champions enter, five leave, and the magic system is built around the Major Arcana of the Tarot. That is not a gimmick; it is a class system with card-specific powers, which is exactly the kind of mechanical structure a Dungeon Crawler Carl reader will appreciate. For those who want to track how the franchise itself is expanding while you wait, our related coverage on the Spin-Off Crawl Confirmed: New Dungeon Series Collapses Into 2027 and the Preorder the Collapse: Dungeon Crawler Carl Returns November 23 articles are worth your attention.
The comparison to Carl and Donut is earned, not borrowed. Kestrel, the protagonist of *The Tarot Trials*, has trained her whole life for a contest that killed her mother. That is not a revenge fantasy; it is an investigation disguised as a tournament. She wants the truth about the Champion of the Moon, who was executed for treason after winning the very same trials. That layered motivation, compete to survive, win to investigate, investigate to expose, gives the book a political spine that stretches past the arena. The betrayal and alliances are not set dressing; they are the plot. Robert has built a system where the competition is only the first phase, and the real game is what happens after you sit at the Cinque table. That is where the *Game of Thrones* comparison lands, and it lands hard. Readers who enjoy the slow burn of power and corruption will find plenty to track here.
One clarification for those expecting the romance intensity of the Dark Olympus series: this is not that. The Tarot Trials is a fantasy novel with a romance subplot, not a romantasy with a fantasy setting. The relationships with the Tower, the Wheel of Fortune, and the Sun are secondary, forming a simmering subplot that will likely develop across the trilogy. For readers who prefer their fantasy focused on competition and court intrigue rather than spice, that is a feature, not a flaw. The book sits at nearly four stars on Goodreads within days of release, and early reception suggests the series has found an audience that wants exactly this balance. The next two books have no announced titles or release dates, so the wait for Book 9 of Dungeon Crawler Carl remains the primary timer, but *The Tarot Trials* is a solid side quest while you wait. The specific takeaway is this: if you are a reader who enjoys watching a protagonist earn power through a deadly contest while navigating a web of political alliances, this book delivers that structure without pretending to be something it is not. The only open question is whether the trilogy will sustain the political momentum past the first competition, and that answer will determine whether this becomes a permanent fixture on the reading list or a one-floor distraction.